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Topic: Nuc Covers (Read 1833 times)

I'm going to be building several nucs this spring. I'm going with a standard scaled down deep design with a bottom board instead of the one piece Coates design. For covers, I could make a scaled down telescoping cover and inner cover, or just go for a migratory type cover. In choosing between the two, is it really a matter of preference like it is with the full size hive, or are there specific advantages to one or the other with a nuc due to its smaller size?

I recently built two 5 frame nucs last month. One for deep frames and one for medium frames. I decided to go with an inner cover because I wanted an easy method for feeding purposes. All of the other nucs I have, including several of the DCoates design do not have inner covers...so if you want to feed with a simple inverted jar (like me), then you have to cut a hole in the top cover. This way I just put the inner cover on, feeder is in place, then I drop the medium atop the inner cover and then the nice looking migratory cover on top of the medium.

I use a single type of cover like Dcoates style with a hole for a jar feeder (when I am not using a division board feeder inside). That way I can see if they are taking syrup and when you are done feeding, just swap tops with one with a hole.

Before deciding how to proceed, I would ask rather or not your plan to overwinter said nucs. If you are not going to overwinter them, then I would just go with the simple migratory tops. They are sufficient in the summer.

If you are going to overwinter the nucs, then there are more variables to worry about and you definitely need a more reliable way keep those cold November rains out. Some protection from our normal spell of sub zero temps might be a consideration too.

I have both migratory and telescoping and prefer the migratory. I use many of these for swarm traps and the migrator is nice because I can shoot a couple of screws in to hold them down. I also have both fixed bottom and bottom board styles. I like them both with the fixed working well 99% of the time. One thing I have done with the bottom board style is use the when combining a full size box and a nuc. I have a sheet of plywood cut 16 1/4 X 20 with a hole cut in the center about 8 X 19. I can do a new paper combine with these.